Montgomery County first responders participate in active shooter exercise

By Jennifer Summer, Staff Writer

Updated
5:24 pm CDT, Wednesday, July 25, 2018

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The Splendora ISD police department hosted dozens of Montgomery County law enforcement agencies to train for an active shooting situation at Splendora High School on Wednesday.

Media: Scott Engle, Montgomery County Police Reporter

Gunshots and shouting echoed through one of the Splendora High School hallways Wednesday.

Three minutes later, the first wave of law enforcement officers made their way, in a formation, to locate the active shooter, remove him from the campus to neutralize the situation and tend to injured students, faculty and staff.

While the simulation seemed all too real for a few of the officers and parents observing the exercise on Wednesday, the full-scale Active Shooter training exercise hosted by Splendora ISD was meant to increase training and awareness for this type of situation.

The exercise was put together by Splendora ISD Police Chief Rex Evans along with the assistance of the Klein ISD Police Department who conducts these types of training at fellow school districts and cities across the state of Texas.

Montgomery County law enforcement clear a stairwell during an active shooter training at Splendora High School on Wednesday, July 25, 2018, in Splendora. The Splendora ISD police department hosted dozens of Montgomery County law enforcement agencies to train for an active shooting situation. less

Montgomery County law enforcement clear a stairwell during an active shooter training at Splendora High School on Wednesday, July 25, 2018, in Splendora. The Splendora ISD police department hosted dozens of ... more

Photo: Jason Fochtman, Staff Photographer / Houston Chronicle

Photo: Jason Fochtman, Staff Photographer / Houston Chronicle

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Montgomery County law enforcement clear a stairwell during an active shooter training at Splendora High School on Wednesday, July 25, 2018, in Splendora. The Splendora ISD police department hosted dozens of Montgomery County law enforcement agencies to train for an active shooting situation. less

Montgomery County law enforcement clear a stairwell during an active shooter training at Splendora High School on Wednesday, July 25, 2018, in Splendora. The Splendora ISD police department hosted dozens of ... more

Photo: Jason Fochtman, Staff Photographer / Houston Chronicle

Montgomery County first responders participate in active shooter exercise

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“The goal behind this to make certain all the responding agencies are on the same page, forbid we actually have an active shooter occur at any campus,” Klein ISD Police Chief David Kimberly said. “This is a great opportunity to work and train together and know what everyone’s particular responsibility is when responding to an all-hazards incident.”

Numerous Montgomery County law enforcement agencies such as Patton Village, Roman Forest and Splendora Police Departments, the Montgomery County Hospital District, the Montgomery County and Harris County Fire Marshals Offices as well as local hospitals and 911 response systems converged at Splendora High School to respond as if there was a real active incident at the school.

This scale of an event took months of planning to ensure everyone was prepared and knew what their role was during the exercise.

“The purpose of this exercise is to look at how we respond to incidents like this and see if there is anything we can improve - which there always is,” Evans said. “This is the first time for a training exercise like this outside of the metro Conroe regional area so this is a first for our law enforcement and first responders in the county to all come together in a pressured environment and work on their training.”

Throughout the exercise, Kimberly, among others, expressed the importance of Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) for law enforcement agencies which ensures that officers respond the same to active emergencies.

“Today was a part of the evaluation of those who have been through ALERRT training and make sure we all respond as we should,” Kimberly said. “This particular training was even more important because, during a conversation with Evans, we didn’t realize some of the capabilities of the responding agencies that we can use to our advantage in the future. This is a great opportunity for Evans to learn these capabilities and develop a successful response plan.”

Splendora ISD students along with additional community members acted their part as well either playing injured, dead or those on lockdown in classrooms.

For the city of Splendora Police Chief Wally Wieghat, he understood the importance of the local police departments coming together especially since they are close together and in a rural portion of the county.

“We decided to pool our resources to train together, to fight together and learn how to deal with situations like this,” Wieghat said. “Our training is the same and we continue to train several times a month. It has worked well and been very effective.”

Patton Village Police Chief Shannon Sharp echoed Wieghat’s sentiments, adding, “today has been a great experience. Our primary function when we respond to an incident like that is to eliminate the threat and then assess the needs of the injured and others at the scene.”

At the end of the exercise, the students who participated had the chance to share what they thought about the experience and many added that it shed light on how first responders will approach the situation and also how they might respond.

“For me, as a mom, I feel like my daughter will have a better understanding on how to react if there is an active shooter and have a little bit more security in her response,” Jackie Knott, Splendora ISD school board member and had a daughter participate in the exercise, said. “From a school board perspective, it’s important to see all the moving parts to ensure our schools are safe and we are knowledgeable on the response.”

Knott and Evans both commented in the similarities between Splendora ISD and Santa Fe ISD where there was shooting at Santa Fe High School in May.

The Active Shooter exercise is one part of Evans’ multifaceted plan to make Splendora ISD safer this school year.

“Our number one priority is to make sure these kids are safe,” Evans said. “If we’re not training, practicing and doing everything we can to be prepared to do that job then we are doing a disservice to our kids; that’s unacceptable. In our hearts, we are never prepared for any kind of active shooter incident, but we need to be prepared as anyone can be for this kind of incident.”

Just recently, the Houston Galveston Area Council (HGAC) donated $43,986 for a new police car and handheld radios for each officer as well as the Montgomery County Crime Stoppers DBA Multi-County Crime Stoppers came up with $16,000 for the classroom door devices called Bearacades and seven body-worn cameras for each officer.

According to information provided by Splendora ISD, law enforcement agencies from the area came up with eight taser devices and reversible/reflective all weather police coats as well as keyless door locks, metal detector wands and updated security cameras added to campuses.

“These types of exercises are invaluable,” Kimberly said. “We like to say, a time of crisis is not a time to exchange business cards. All of the agencies that would respond to call such as this will know their role and how to respond in the future.”